Largest Climate Rally in U.S. History Comes to Washington

On Feb. 17, more than 40,000 people from across the nation gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to collectively voice their opposition to the Keystone tar sands pipeline. Despite the freezing temperatures and 26-mile-per-hour winds, the crowd was energized and optimistic.

350.org, the Sierra Club, the Hip Hop Caucus, and numerous other groups helped to plan the event, solidarity events, and the online gathering, which the organizers calculated garnered the attention of more than 4 million viewers. The four-hour event included speeches by Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Bill McKibben, Van Jones, Rosario Dawson, and Chief Jacqueline Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation.

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Sarah Kuck produced this video for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas and practical actions.